Epilogue

Abstract

At the beginning of the twentieth century, teenagers did not exist. The cultural conditions for their emergence were in formation, and the years between childhood and adulthood were increasingly viewed as a distinct life stage. One hundred years later, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it was virtually impossible to avoid teenagers. There were more teenagers than ever before, they spent large amounts of money, and their cultural presence was incontestable. They existed not only as members of a distinct institution and stage of life, but as highly sought-after consumers, carefully watched trendsetters for fashion, entertainment, and new technologies.